An update with Spencer Larsen

A chance to do an interview with Spencer Larsen came last December when the Denver Broncos were winning games under the leadership and passionate play of quarterback Tim Tebow.

Spencer Larsen, who served an LDS mission in Chile, runs alongside former Denver quarterback Tim Tebow during a game last season. Larsen will play for the New England Patriots this season. (Associated Press)

Larsen, a friend of Mormon Times, graciously granted an interview to talk about the Broncos’ late-season winning streak and playing with Tebow.

“I haven’t been part of a winning season since I was a junior in high school,” the fullback from Arizona said in my Deseret News article. “It’s exciting when you win, and when you do it in an unconventional way, it’s even more exciting.”

Denver’s run ended in the playoffs in New England. Little did Larsen know he would end up signing as a free agent with the Patriots in the off season, but he did.

Larsen was the subject of an article in the Boston Herald this week. In his Patriots’ Notebook, sports writer Jeff Howe talked with Larsen about his experience as an LDS mission in Chile from 2003-05. Larsen recalled being in locations with little running water and very little electricity, speaking Spanish and teaching the gospel to kind people in humble circumstances. It was a life-altering experience, he said.

“It was much harder coming home (with) the culture shock of coming back to the States, how everybody has so much,” Larsen told Howe. “It was tough getting there and seeing how little they had, but coming back was an adjustment.”

Larsen, 6-foot-2, 245 pounds, was drafted by the Broncos in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL draft and spent four seasons playing fullback, linebacker and on special teams. His family lived in Parker, Col., a 10-minute drive from the Century 16 movie theater where James Holmes is accused of opening fire, killing 12 and wounding 58 during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” on July 20.

Glen Farley, a staff writer with the Enterprise News, recently asked Larsen about his connection to the Colorado community and the movie theater.

The Spencer Larsen family.

“My daughter (2-year-old Abney) spent a little time in the hospital (Children’s Hospital in Aurora) and I drove by that place every day,” Larsen told Farley. “The hospital’s on one side and just a little ways away is the mall. It’s sad. Your heart goes out to them.”

“Being able to reference it and things like that, it’s a little more intimate, but this hurts for everyone. It’s devastating,” Larsen continued. “I think anybody, whether you lived there (or not), it’s going to hurt everybody. It’s just so sad. It’s just a sad story to see people’s lives turned upside down.”

About the Author

Trent Toone

Trent Toone is a journalist for the Deseret News, where he writes for the Mormon Times and a variety of feature sections. He is also the author of "No Excuses, No Regrets: The Eric Weddle Story," set to come out in April 2013.